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I'm a writer, living in Bristol in the UK. I've had a handful of short stories published but I'm still working on that Holy Grail for fiction writers- securing a literary agent. So, if you're an agent or have an Auntie, Uncle, second cousin, best friend who is one...

Exploring fictional worlds in a flash

FFfAW: Thick as thieves

‘Dunno,’ said Mike, staring down at the gemstone. The size of a hen’s egg, it seemed to snatch light from the air and shoot it out in sharp indigo rays. ‘Amethyst maybe? That’s the purple ones, innit?’

Stevie massaged his temples, wishing he could rub out Mike along with the pain. ‘You nicked it and you don’t know what it is?’

I really liked that. Do you write these ‘on the fly’ as we say, in American-English, or are some of these excerpts of other writing projects? I don’t read a lot of the comments in your blog so I’m not sure if this has been asked before, or if it’s too personal, but roughly how much time do you spend in the writing/editing of each of these pieces? They seem like magical kind of peep-holes into broader stories. This format is not entirely my thing (or at least I thought it wasn’t but I’m coming around to it, with your posts), so I’m new to how it’s done, and curious what you’d be willing to share, about your process. Sorry if that’s a loaded comment — we can save it for another time, too. Maybe next time I’m in the UK, ha! Bill

They are written on the fly – just whatever occurs when I see the photo prompt, though occasionally the characters are stolen from existing projects. The time they take varies – some are written in half an hour, others an hour if I can’t quite find the right word, the original’s too long or the sense of the story isn’t coming across. They feel like peepholes to me too, often showing some kind of tipping point – like just telling the punchline and missing the preamble of a long joke. I sometimes (especially in the spec fic ones) have an idea of what the wider world is like, or what the coming threat is – I do a lot of ‘looming threat’ in my flash! I do fancy extending a few of them – there was one about a young lad and his mum facing something awful in a coming storm and another following a detective investigatimg murders of an unearthly nature – but time, as always restricts what can be accomplished.
Writing so many has helped me practice brevity – something I’ve not been very good at previously.
They’re good fun, though – that’s the main thing.
Always nice to chat about writing with you. Are you considering writing some flash yourself, Bill?